A LANDMARK building in a town centre is to be restored to its former glory and brought back to life as a restaurant.
The Cardosi brothers, Stefano and Riccardo, will next summer open a new 120-seat restaurant covering the entire ground-floor unit in the former Arnotts department store in Paisley, in what is being hailed as a sign of the town’s centre’s "ongoing rebirth".
The restaurant is part of a much bigger development on the Gauze Street site, with work set to finish this year on 11 luxury apartments on the upper floors overlooking Paisley Abbey and Town Hall – most of which have already been snapped up.
The Cardosi family has run businesses in the town since the 1920s and the move comes as Paisley bids to become the UK City of Culture.
Renfrewshire Council Leader Mark Macmillan said: “We are thrilled that someone whose name is as well-known and well-regarded in the town as the Cardosi family has agreed to lease the retail unit in the former Arnotts store.
“For years, the Arnotts site stood as the most visible gap site in the town – but for us to now fill that gap with a development of this quality is a fitting symbol of Paisley’s town centre’s ongoing rebirth.
“Of course we know there are still problems to be fixed but the signs of progress are now all around us – take a look at the number of new residents and businesses in the area around the Abbey for example.
“As the town’s bid for UK City of Culture 2021 takes shape we hope to create even more opportunity for traders to thrive – and for businessmen such as the Cardosis to be investing in this way is a vote of confidence in where Paisley is heading.”
Residents have already moved into 31 new flats on the corner of Gauze and Lawn Streets, owned by Link Housing Group.
The Arnotts site is owned and marketed by Park Lane Developments Renfrewshire LLP, a limited liability partnership between Renfrewshire Council and Park Lane Developments.
Paisley is as yet the only Scottish town to signal its intent to bid for the 2021 City of Culture title and will officially fire the starting gun with a series of events in November.
If selected, it would hold the title 31 years on from neighbouring Glasgow’s year as European Capital of Culture, which marked the beginning of its image overhaul.
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